Today in the suburb of Cromer in Sydney’s northern beaches, in terrible hot, windy and dry conditions, a bushfire is burning out of control. It is almost certain that the fire was deliberately lit. Every year in Australia, a significant percentage of our devastating bushfires are purposely started, for inexplicable reasons, by idiots.

On tonight’s news this exchange took place between the ABC newsreader and the New South Wales Rural Fire Chief, Commissioner Phil Koperberg:

Newsreader: Commissioner Koperberg, do you find it surprising that someone was lighting a fire under these conditions?

Commissioner Koperberg: Yes, I do. These conditions provide an exceptionally bad fire risk and fires start easily and spread quickly.

This is how it should properly have gone:

Newsreader: Commissioner Koperberg, do you find it surprising that someone was lighting a fire under these conditions?

Commissioner Koperberg: No I don’t. People are moronic and thoughtless and don’t possess even an ounce of common sense. It’s happened every year for decades and I predict that these cretins are likely to be doing it for decades to come.

It never surprises me these days, and I know that Commissioner Koperberg has a lot more experience in this field than I do.